Qantas lets you send plane PJs to your friends stuck in lockdown

As the aviation industry faces a recovery from the pandemic that could take years, Qantas has launched a $25 ‘business class’ experience – from your living room.

If there’s ever been a time to stay in your PJs, it’s now.

As Australia’s aviation industry faces a recovery that could take years after the COVID-19 pandemic, which has stripped back passenger numbers on flights and to airports by up to 98 per cent, Qantas has launched a new out-of-plane experience for those pining for a flight.

With all Qantas international flights and the majority of domestic flights currently suspended due to ongoing border restrictions, the airline has an oversupply of items including the iconic Business Class pyjamas, Business Class amenity kits, as well as Tim Tams and snacks that would normally be offered to passengers travelling in premium cabins.

So for $25 you can have a scaled back ‘Business Class’ experience from your lounge room.

The airline has put these items together in a care package that can be sent anonymously as a surprise ‘random act of kindness’ to a friend, family member, or simply as a gift to yourself.

RELATED: Qantas retires last Queen of the Skies plane

The kit will cost $25 including postage.

According to the airline, an individual can send a maximum of 10 packs anywhere in Australia via qantas.com for $25 per pack or 4350 Qantas points.

Each care pack includes:

• 1 Qantas Business Class sleeper suit L/XL (suitable for most shapes and sizes)

• 1 Qantas Curates Business Class amenity kit featuring ASPAR Travel Essentials (sweet orange and shea hand cream, ultra hydrating face moisturiser and sweet orange lip balm)

• 12 individually wrapped Tim Tams

• 200g pack of smoked almonds (served in Qantas First Class)

• 10 T2 lemongrass and ginger tea bags

The idea came as the airline has an oversupply of amenity kits and snacks because of a reduced number of flights and passengers.

You can now send a pair of Qantas PJs to a friend or family member in lockdown.

Last month, Qantas officially removed international flight bookings – bar New Zealand – from its website until March 28, 2021.

The pulling of all international inventory comes weeks after Group CEO Alan Joyce announced that services overseas probably wouldn’t resume for another 12 months.

In June, Mr Joyce said the airline was grounding 100 aircraft in the Mojave Desert in the US, and axing 20 per cent of the carrier’s workforce for “at least three years”.

Domestic tourism, along with international jaunts, have been left in tatters in the wake of the global pandemic.

It’s been a rough year for the Australian carrier. Picture: Jenny Evans

In new figures released by the National Visitor Survey, Australia’s domestic tourism sector took an $11.7 billion hit between April and May as border closures resulted in states and territories unable to move around the country.

Australians took 9.6 million fewer domestic overnight trips in April this year, compared with April 2019.

Victoria recorded an 83 per cent collapse in visitor numbers, equating to a $2.5 billion loss.

Mr Joyce said that while a trans-Tasman route may be on the cards by the end of the year, the chances of other popular routes reopening before mid-2021 remained unlikely.

“We have to be realistic about it and say with what’s happening in the rest of the globe, it is probably an extended period of time,” he said, adding it will be years because international flights return to pre-COVID numbers.